


I'm only human

by violaloki



Category: Humans (TV), Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Artificial Intelligence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Androids, Artificial Intelligence, F/F, F/M, Immortal Merlin, M/M, Magic, Modern, Nice Mordred, Robots, Synthetic, Synths, cyborg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-14 04:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4551297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violaloki/pseuds/violaloki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hawkins family and the Elster Family cross paths again after Leo's past catches up with him.<br/>Athur and the knights must deal with a world where Camelot is only legend and technology has taken over the modern world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Lake

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Merlin or Humans.  
> Constructive criticism as always is welcome.  
> And also, just to clarify, this is written in Max's point of view

It was hard to forget that day. First of all, it was physically impossible for something (or someone) like Max to forget any memory he creates, but also because it was an important day, it was first time in a while Max saw his brother truly happy. Not counting when they reunited with Mia.

They were out taking a walk, their brothers and sisters were at the safe house Leo built for them. Max still questions why the multiple rooms were necessary but he kept his mouth shut.

They were headed towards the Hawkins house when Leo gasped and stopped. Max turned around and saw that his brother’s eyes were glowing an unnatural shade of gold. Like the sunset or the glitter from the small flying woman from the Disney movie he and his siblings watched when they were just made.

Leo held out his hand “come on Maxie, there’s some people I want you meet. I know it’s real this time.”

Max grabbed Leo’s outstretched hand and found himself disoriented as he moved through space in the form of millions of microscopic particles.

They landed near the lake of the safe house, the lake was glowing equivalent to his brother’s eyes.

That was when he saw it, a small boat. Inside the boat were seven people. Each dressed in metal chainmail and a crimson red cloak. They look much like the people in Leo’s memories.

The boat reached the shore and the first thing Leo does is wrap his hands around the blond human. His reaction is what brought Max to the assumption that they knew each other. Although he could not register what Leo was feeling _ **(in my story, since the conscious synth’s brain are all connected, they are able to feel the others’ emotions and communicate telepathically)**_ , he assumed that his tears were a mix or happy and sadness.

Max went to help the humans out of the boat and stand up.

All of the humans looked at him with a strange expression but he was used to that, most people don’t understand him and his siblings and the common action in humans and the unknown is to fear it.

Leo smiled at the humans “Guys, this is my brother, Max. Max, this is Arthur _(the blond)_ , Gwaine _(the one that had longer hair than the rest and a smirk that can be considered sneaky)_ , Lancelot (tan skin and a gentle expression), Percival (tall and muscular), Elyan _(darker skin and shorter)_ , Leon _(ginger hair and an expression of distrust)_ , and Mordred _(dark hair and blue eyes that remained always curious)_ ”

“It is nice to meet you all” Max said with a smile.

Arthur turned to Leo “Merlin, it’s good to see you! Now, what the hell are you wearing and where is Camelot?”

Max has heard of Camelot from Niska’s readings. But surely it cannot be real can it? Magic seemed highly unlikely in this day and age yet Leo had magic and it had yet to be proven so there could be a 50% chance of it being real. He was hardly fazed by the fact that the knight (If they were really Knights) called Leo Merlin as that had been his nickname growing up.

Leo’s expression became sad “Camelot is now only a memory. When you died the kingdom collapsed, I was yelled at and blamed for your death. I came home to Camelot and was banished by Gwen, never to return again. I’m sorry I failed you” Leo looked down at his feet, unable to face his friends.

Arthur put his arms around Leo’s skinny frame “it is quite alright old friend”

Leo quickly wiped his eyes, his walls going up once more. “I have a house just across the lake, we can give you guys shelter.”

They all got up and walked towards the house. Max had a certain feeling that Leo wanted to keep the information about synths, or maybe just him being one, a secret. Max would make the assumption that it was because Leo changed, something his friends never wanted him to do, going by the memories Leo had.

But it could possibly be luck, coincidence, or the fates or any godly deity with a dark sense of humor that when they come inside the house with all seven knights in tow, all of their siblings were on power saving mode and were charging.

This was going to be interesting…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo's backstory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't own Merlin or Humans.  
> I may have tweaked the plot-line to make it fit with the story.  
> Criticism is welcome :)

Leo (Merlin) always felt comforted by the contemporary modern architecture. So it made sense that he designed his family’s safe house like that. Although the city Modern of whites, greys, and blacks did not go with the area they were living in, they had to add in some wooden walls into the structure. The house was equipped with 12 bedrooms, a kitchen and two sitting room. Leo picked this location for a specific reason. It bordered on a lake, the lake of Avalon to be exact.

Leo looked on the outside like any other teenager, black hair that curls at the ends, tall and skinny frame and eyes as blue as the center of Yellowstone’s paint pot that goes out and becomes an iridescent gold on the rims.

But on the inside, Leo was definitely different. You see, in the 21st century, technology has passed Magic. Yes, I said magic. Leo is actually Merlin, as in THE Merlin. Cursed to immortality when his best friend King Arthur died. He is around 1,600 years old by now.

But his life was going fine up until the crash. He had been adopted into a family of a scientist and his wife. He acted as a nurse towards Beatrice, David Elster’s wife. And also was David’s apprentice and learned about reading the electrical impulses from the hypothalamus and how these charges interact with the frontal lobe. Then through 17,000 pages of code, there is another code embedded in the main core. This embedded code is the key to synth’s consciousness. The conscious synths, Mia, Fred, Niska, and Max became his family. The only people he has had contact with in over half a century.

But what is most interesting, is Leo. Leo remembers it vividly. He was taking a trip around to the lake for the Anniversary of Arthur’s death. He took a cab that day but it was snowing, so the roads were slippery. The driver got stuck on an ice patch on the road and managed to flip the car and crash over a bridge. He could remember the cold. All cold, seeping into his old bones and making him feel like a puppet, with a stiff, wooden body. The door, jammed because of the pressure of force was opened by Mia herself and that is the last of his memory of the incident before darkness hit him.

When Leo woke up, he woke up to a bright light and David standing over him. His body sizzled and buzzed. This was similar to an electrical pulse than his usual tingling magic. It turns out that David found out how to connect Leo’s human brain to a synthetic built to supplement the part he lost from the crash. How he did it was relatively simple, since the human brain is mostly impulses and neurotransmitters, David had been working on a way to make synthetic neurons that are almost identical to the code of the human brain so the axons of both human and synth join together to make Nerve impulses and work as one brain.

David reminded Merlin of Uther at times, bloody brilliant but unable to handle grief very well. David, a few year later, made a synth that matched his late wife. He then passed the responsibility of protecting his brothers and sisters onto Leo before he committed suicide that same night. The five of them were on their own.

Someone stole the blueprints to creating the synths but luckily David didn’t write down the blueprints for the six so the synths that were created we unfeeling robots without the opportunity for free will or thought or questioning.

They were on the run…for now…     


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo/Merlin reveals his magic to the knights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Merlin or Humans  
> I honestly felt like Leon didn't like Merlin for whatever reason in the show. Like in Darkest Hour when Leon looks and talks like Merlin is expendable and also with the Lamia episode. But that's just my opinion.   
> Also, i think Max would be the one who always loved to see the tricks Leo/Merlin could do with magic like the blue crystal cave butterfly or the smoke horse. :)

_ Modern Day _

Leo was overflowing with a thousand emotions at once. Of all the times Arthur and the knights could’ve come back they chose now? Leo hadn’t even thought to think of how to explain to them the technology of the modern era.

That question was soon answered as Leo, Max and the knights entered the house.

Inside the house, his three siblings, Mia, Niska, and Fred were sitting stock still, plugged in and palms up with the index finger moving in and out of the palm.

The synths all opened their eyes at the same time. Mia was the first one to notice them. She stood up with her naturally gentle smile.

Leo started talking “Guys, these are my family for the past few decades.”

“Hello, I’m Mia, this is my sister Niska and my brother Fred”

Gwaine came up to Mia and took her hand and kissed it. “It is my pleasure” He said with a smirk, causing her to blush.

Leo put his hand on Gwaine’s shoulder and pulled him back towards the knights “You’ve been here less than an hour and you are already flirting? Seriously?”

“Well come in. I will make us a snack and we can sit down and talk.” Mia said.

“Have Leo light the stove!” Max said with a smile. He was the only one in the family that still loved seeing Leo’s magic. (Not that they didn’t like it, it just was such a normal thing that it didn’t faze them anymore)

Leo smiled fondly at his little brother’s actions and channeled his magic towards the stove _“Forbærne”_ he whispered and felt his eyes turn golden as he heard Max’s soft smile become wider and the laugh came out as a loud breath.

That ended real quickly when he felt a piece of metal in touching his back. “Don’t move, sorcerer!” Came Leon’s voice. Of course it was Leon. The knight didn’t seem to like Merlin all that well during his years in Camelot. (Just my observation from the show. Leon was kind of mean to Merlin in the show)

Leo held up his hand as the other synths came to his rescue.

“Yes, Leon, I have magic. I have always had magic, I was born with it. It is also why I am still here. Cursed with immortality because I failed to protect Arthur the first time. I was too much of a coward to try and change Mordred and Morgana’s destinies. I’ve been paying for my crime of being born with these beautiful gifts for sixteen hundred fuckin years. So I’m sorry for being born with the label of being evil. I suffered for a millennia and a half! Don’t I deserve a little recognition?” By the end of Leo’s diatribe, he had tears in his eyes and streaming down his face. He felt the familiar burning in his eyes as he turn and ran out the back door.

After a minute’s thought, he set off towards the Hawkins household, the one place he can find a safe place to think...


	4. Chapter 4

 

The Hawkins family were definitely in for a surprise as they saw a disheveled Leo on their front patio. Since the incident with Hobb, these spontaneous visits were common for the Synths. Usually they would come individually to get some space away from their siblings. So it was very difficult not to let the teenager inside in such a state. 

Leo felt the world focus as he felt arms wrap around his body slowly but firmly. He slowly wrapped his arms around the smaller frame, buried his head into Mattie's hair and that was when the tears started flowing.

They pair slowly made their way to the sofa in the main room where the rest of the family were sitting.

"LEO!" Sophie yelled and jumped onto his lap as he sat down.

"Hello Soph! Look how big you're getting!" Leo said as he began to feel better from the overall positive energy the youngest Hawkins.

"Listen, I haven't been 100% honest with any of you about my past and I would rather tell ahead of time then you finding out later like last time. I've been putting this off because i didn't know how to explain it"

So Leo took a deep breath and started explaining everything.

By the time he explained it all, he was met by equally confused faces.

"I can prove it!" Leo whispered into his hands, much like the night in the crystal cave all those years ago. As he opened his hands, the room filled with an ethereal blue light and out flew an equally blue butterfly. His small audience followed it in awe as it circled above their heads before freezing into a necklace with a medium sized sapphire and Swarovski crystal butterfly pendent and carefully draped itself over Mattie's head and rested just about in the middle of her chest.

Leo felt his face heat up as all eyes were on him. 

"I shouldn't have burdened you like that, I understand if you want me to leave." Leo said quietly as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"That was beautiful!" Laura whispered "You kept that to yourself all these years?" 

"Yeah." Leo whispered. "Are you guys okay with this? I know it can be a lot to take in."

"Well we share a world now, all our lives have changed so nothing is able to surprise me anymore." Joe joked "If someone told me that i was going to be considering five synths and a synth cyborg as an extended family, i would've told them they were bonkers!"

This was followed laughter from everyone in the room. And in that moment, Leo knew that everything would turn out right. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone is liking this so far. :)  
> This was in my head for a while. for almost the whole summer.  
> P.S. When I'm talking about the memories, we learn sometime later in this series that Leo's memories are digital.  
> 


End file.
